Preserving Privacy Related to Networked Media Consumption Activities

1. A method for preserving privacy related to networked media consumption activity comprising: defining multiple source privacy zones; associating a privacy standard with each source privacy zone, each privacy standard comprising one or more frequency criteria governing the storage of information associated with networked media consumption activity collected from an associated source privacy zone; receiving a transaction request comprising a networking protocol address and a cookie value, in association with networked media consumption activity, from a client device over a network at a target location by a networked privacy system; selecting at least one source privacy zone from the multiple source privacy zones for the client device, wherein the at least one source privacy zone is selected, at least in part, based on the cookie value; creating a dataset comprising at least one characteristic value, the at least one characteristic value based on information associated with networked media consumption activity collected from the source privacy zone; pre-processing the dataset to comply with the privacy standards associated with the at least one source privacy zone selected for the client device; discarding the networking protocol address; and, storing the pre-processed dataset in a filtered database at a storage location.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the privacy standards further comprise restrictions on permissible data operations with respect to information associated with networked media consumption activity collected from the source privacy zone.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein: the one or more frequency criteria comprise the frequency of multiple characteristic values taken together.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein: pre-processing comprises determining an estimated frequency of at least one characteristic value based at least in part on a model; and determining if the dataset complies with the privacy standards associated with the at least one source privacy zone selected for the client device based on the estimated frequency.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein pre-processing comprises discarding characteristic values which do not meet at least one frequency criterion described in the privacy standard.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein: pre-processing comprises assessing the frequency of at least one characteristic value based at least in part on aggregated data.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein pre-processing comprises: temporarily storing at least one dataset in a staging database for a time window; and permitting the dataset to be written to the filtered database if the dataset in the staging database meets all the frequency criteria described in the privacy standards within the time window.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the privacy standard comprises restrictions based on one or more locations selected from the group of: the target location and the storage location.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein at least one frequency criterion can be met based on examining data collected in an earlier time window.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising: redirecting the transaction request, based on the client device's source privacy zone, to a device at a second target location coupled to the networked privacy system.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein: the networked privacy system is a third party system with respect to the client device.

12. The method of claim 1 further comprising: retrieving the characteristic value by providing information received in the transaction request.

13. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium executing computer program instructions, the computer program instructions comprising instructions for: defining multiple source privacy zones; associating a privacy standard with each source privacy zone, each privacy standard comprising one or more frequency criteria governing the storage of information associated with networked media consumption activity collected from an associated source privacy zone; receiving a transaction request comprising a networking protocol address and a cookie value, in association with networked media consumption activity, from a client device over a network at a target location by a networked privacy system; selecting at least one source privacy zone from the multiple source privacy zones for the client device, wherein the at least one source privacy zone is selected, at least in part, based on the cookie value; creating a dataset comprising at least one characteristic value, the at least one characteristic value based on information associated with networked media consumption activity collected from the source privacy zone; pre-processing the dataset to comply with the privacy standards associated with the at least one source privacy zone selected for the client device; discarding the networking protocol address; and, storing the pre-processed dataset in a filtered database at a storage location.

14. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein: the privacy standards further comprise restrictions on permissible data operations with respect to information associated with networked media consumption activity collected from the source privacy zone.

15. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein the instructions for pre-processing comprise: determining an estimated frequency of at least one characteristic value based at least in part on a model; and determining if the dataset complies with the privacy standards associated with the at least one source privacy zone selected for the client device based on the estimated frequency.

16. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein the instructions for pre-processing comprise: temporarily storing at least one dataset in a staging database for a time window; and permitting the dataset to be written to the filtered database if the dataset in the staging database meets all the frequency criteria described in the privacy standards within the time window.

17. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein: the privacy standard comprises restrictions based on one or more locations selected from the group of: the target location and the storage location.

18. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein the instructions further comprise instructions for: redirecting the transaction request, based on the client device's source privacy zone, to a device at a second target location coupled to the networked privacy system.

19. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein the instructions further comprise instructions for: retrieving the characteristic value by providing information received in the transaction request.

20. A system, comprising: a processor; and a computer readable non-transitory storage medium storing processor-executable computer program instructions, the instructions comprising instructions for: defining multiple source privacy zones; associating a privacy standard with each source privacy zone, each privacy standard comprising one or more frequency criteria governing the storage of information associated with networked media consumption activity collected from an associated source privacy zone; receiving a transaction request comprising a networking protocol address and a cookie value, in association with networked media consumption activity, from a client device over a network at a target location by a networked privacy system; selecting at least one source privacy zone from the multiple source privacy zones for the client device, wherein the at least one source privacy zone is selected, at least in part, based on the cookie value; creating a dataset comprising at least one characteristic value, the at least one characteristic value based on information associated with networked media consumption activity collected from the source privacy zone; pre-processing the dataset to comply with the privacy standards associated with the at least one source privacy zone selected for the client device; discarding the networking protocol address; and, storing the pre-processed dataset in a filtered database at a storage location.